I've played this game a lot, probably a full two or three runs every day since Sunday, and I really like it. I have almost no complaints about it, think it is really cool, and recommend it to people.

Renown Tracking

I have beaten the game four or five times now and - I've never made it through five missions without coming in first. Even in the games I've failed I was on track to come in first had I not lost resolve. It also seems weird that their explorer ratings don't change. It feels like I'm competing against people who are just sitting there which seems unfair.

What if each explorer you're competing against started much lower, but also got renown over time. I haven't tried the new hardest difficulty yet, so maybe this is a part of it, but renown could be a part of the difficulty setting as well. Not only is making it to the end harder, but coming in first is harder as well.

And while I understand that Rivaleaux is supposed to be your rival, what if there were more interactions with other explorers where you could affect their scores?

Story

Having played through most of the 2-3 star levels 10+ times and the 4 star levels 7+, there really doesn't seem to be much story interaction with play styles, not from level to level and often not even across the same level. Play styles affect difficulty and tactics and to some extent small details within the encounter, but it doesn't affect how I feel about what I'm doing.

There are some small differences, most of which you'll miss if you don't slow down to read the text (which sometimes becomes hard when you're doing the same encounter for the 10th time) and a few exceptions (when I beat the nun aggressively with Ivan (?) and he felt guilty for the rest of the game) but for the most part I don't notice any difference. There might be some. I found one that seemed to refer to a different level, but it wasn't clear.

What if there were a bunch of events which gave you additional options in a future level? What if it was tied to how you won? For example, winning a specific fight in a friendly fashion, or passing a steal test gave you a map to a secondary objective in a future level that showed up when you went to that level?

I said this in an earlier post, but the sameness of the story, lack of diversity of feeling in play style, and lack of truly different paths to take is my only real complaint about this game. I'm still playing because I want to unlock all the captains, beat the hardest difficulty, and beat Shangri La, but I'm not playing because I think I'll find more things. I felt like I saw most of what the game had to offer within the first four to five runs and in the next six plus that's been mostly confirmed. I am seeing one or two small nuances each play through but about 95% is the exact same.

Combat

When animations are turned off, it's really hard to tell how I'm being attacked. I wish it was more clear, even with animations, what type of attack the other guys are doing. At this point I know the game well enough to know what most of them are going to be anyway, but especially for the bosses it can be hard.

Aggressive feels weird. It's not HP, it's spirit, but even if I take off 99% of their spirit through speech and do a tiny aggressive attack they fall over and disappear. Especially since the story scenes make it clear I'm not (at least generally) killing them, it is odd. What if there was a different animation? They limped off or stayed on the ground, obviously alive?

Is there a rotation feature? If there is I can't find it. It's a rare problem, but in both combat and the overall map there are often times where what you want to do is obscured. For the world map it is most often the cost of travel (this is represented by text as well so not a big loss) but it combat it can be more annoying - especially in some fights like the ape - he often obscures the tile behind him which requires me to be to find that one pixel that works - I've always been able to do it, but that's where I encounter it most frequently.

Combat

Automatic end turn option in the settings. I'm not sure I would always want it, but it would be nice. Also, I love how you can double push the number and it will automatically attack the unit selected. It also does a really good job of selecting unit I would most want to attack. I'm sure another game like this has done it, but I've never seen it before and it's really cool.

Tools

I know this is a common complaint - but I hadn't found them after ten games. I'd seen references for them and looked for them in the overall UI and help menu and given up. I think the issue could be solved by an icon on the main menu somewhere (maybe a smaller circle next to research and items) that has a number along with something in the help features.

Character Stats

Also I know a somewhat common complaint - but it would be really, really nice if you could look at your character's stats any time you wanted to. Familiarity with the game has lessoned this somewhat, but there are so many times I wish I could just pull them up and look at what they have.

Revistable Locations

I think it would be great if you could revisit any location you are allowed to revisit (shops, boss encounters) without moving off the space and moving back. With careful planning this isn't a real problem, but if you accidently click the wrong button (as I did once) or just think, I could actually have spent a little more resolve for supplies there, there's no way to go back without wasting at least two supplies.

Rotation
I don't think this is a 3d game, so there can't be any rotation. I agree that once in a while, such as with the Titan ape, it can be hard to see and interact. Maybe a transparency feature so actors show better?

Tools
These can be purchased (the monkey wrench) and there are 2 perks under the Supply research that give you tools.

Combat: Automatic End
This would be a nice feature.

Reknown
I've beaten Rivaleaux on 4 of 6 finishes, so I wouldn't want it to be easier, because success rate will only improve with experience. It looks like they've already reduced the required reknown from 2500 to 2000, which is disappointing. There are a few things that you can do to improve your score:

- Plan what you want to focus on from the beginning (gold, status, or science). You can easily beat 2500 without being too lopsided in your choices, but keeping this is mind helps. Also, it seems to be easier to win by gold or status than science.

- Tying into the above, the choice of captain can give bonuses to gold, status, or science acquisition. Some perk choices also help, though aren't required.

- Skip one of the 2-star lands and do an extra 3- or 4-star instead. For example, for a speech-oriented crew, the Highlands (with the abbess) is pretty easy, and should net more rewards than the Caribbean.

- Edit: Adding because I didn't quite catch on to this for a while. At the start of fights, and on the upper left-side of the screen, payouts are listed. You can get extra encounter tokens or gold, status, or study bonuses depending on how you resolve the fight. I ignored this for a long time, but it can definitely add up if you skew resolution for the bonuses.

Rotation: As a side-note that I found helpful, using Tab to shift between targets while using a skill or between team members when moving can help a lot. Doesn't help if you're trying to get to a particular position, but at least there's the undo button for that.